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Repair of Calle de los Arboles

Rebuilding Calle de los arboles

While not the only road repair process going on, rebuilding Calle de los Arboles starting at the cathedral heading down the hill to where the street is concrete is the biggest one. (Others include and additional block on Rancho Grande up from where it was totally re-done late last year and the callejon at the lake end of Calle Santander.) As I write this the work is almost done. My guess is that the street should be open again by 6 September if not before.

What has made this project so significant is the traffic disruption. For the buses that would loop around the cathedral — virtually all big buses that enter Pana — there is no alternative route. The buses are too long to navigate the other streets in the area. The result has been that buses turn around — an interesting exercise in itself) at the corner where Calle Real and Calle de los Arboles meet. Clearly a big inconvenience for people going to/from the public market.

Putting new sewer and water pipes under Calle de los Arboles.

The old rubble surface was removed and a trench was dug for pipes. First a new sewer main was added and then a water main with new pipes to each business. All this work was done by hand. Then the trench was filled in and the surface tamped flat — this time using machines. While I had been told it would be surfaced just like the part below, this is not the case. Rather than poured concrete, concrete bricks are being used. I saw brick because the work is not being done with traditional adoquines — the interlocking paving blocks. This work is being done with two sizes of brick — one the size of a typical clay brick, the other about half that size.

Paving of Calle de Los Arboles with concrete bricks.

This is what the finished surface looks like. The gutters are then made by hand. There is also hand concrete work to fit current manholes into the surface. A more traditional approach would be to use forms to do the gutters and manholds. By putting in the surface blocks first, forms are not needed. The big plus is that total elapsed time for the job should be decreased.

1 comment to Repair of Calle de los Arboles

Still not open. While you could say I made a bad prediction, I want to claim an excuse. There is more happening than I expected. New curbs are being built — generally up to current sidewalk level.
In addition, a bit more street was torn up in front of the cathedral and more sewer lines added. That dig, connect, fill work was done in two days.
At this point things seem to be close. Some pavement in front of the cathedral, manholes and a bit more curb.